Final Stats

TROY, Ala. - The Northern Illinois University softball team suffered an 8-7 setback to Connecticut in extra innings in the Huskies' finale of the Trojan Invitational Sunday.

Trailing 6-3 heading into the top of the seventh, NIU (4-6) rallied with a four spot in the top of the seventh to take a 7-6 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

With two on and two out, Bekah Harnish (Maple Park, Ill./Burlington Central) doubled to left centerfield to drive in a pair and pull the Huskies to within a run. After a Alaynie Woollard (New Castle, Ind./New Castle) walk put runners on first and second, Jessica Sturm (Wichita, Kan./Goddard) doubled to center to give the Huskies a 7-6 lead.

"We showed this weekend that we're going to fight until there's a final out in the game," NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe said. "We had two eighth-inning losses and two seventh-inning wins. It kind of tells you the level of parity within our sport right now."

Sturm went 2-for-3 on the day, including two doubles with three RBIs and a run scored. Harnish was right behind her, going 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored.

Unfortunately for NIU, UConn tied the game in its final at bat. With a runner on second and two outs, Emily O'Donnell singled through the left side to score Ryne Nakama to tie the game and send it in extras.

NIU failed to score in the top of the eighth, giving UConn a chance to complete the comeback. After Jacklyn Dubois was placed on second, she was sacrificed over to the third. Following a walk, Dubois scored on a Sturm wild pitch to win the game.

Sturm, who carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the fifth, finished the day allowing seven runs, five earned, on four hits, and four base on balls.

The Huskies built a 3-0 lead through five innings, with a pair of runs scored in the top of the second and a run in the fifth. However, NIU could have done more damage in the top of the fourth. The Huskies loaded the bases with only one out, but were unable to scratch across a run. NIU left 10 runners on base for the game.

"We needed to continue to score runs after we got our 3-0 lead," Sutcliffe said. "We left too many runners on base. It started raining pretty hard. We left some pitches up and momentum got messed up a little bit. Before we knew it we were chasing a lead."

Despite the loss, Sutcliffe was happy with the way her team showed resiliency Sunday and throughout the weekend.

"We had a lot of contributors from everybody on the team, 1-9," she said. "Grable continued to stay hot and Allie Hecht was huge for us in the bottom of the order this weekend. We were just really able to fight."

-NIU-